Description of two novel bacteriophages of the class Caudoviricetes that infect Ralstonia solanacearum and Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum

Abstract

Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of two novel phages from Brazilian soil that infect Ralstonia solanacearum and Ralstonia pseudosolanacearum, which we have named “RS phage AB1 and RS phage CA1. Genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed that RS phage AB1 is a novel member of the family Peduoviridae, while RS phage CA1 could not be classified as part of any established family. Thus, we propose a new viral family, “Anamaviridae”, with two subfamilies, “Kantovirinae” and “Mascarenevirinae”, with the latter including RS phage CA1. We propose the species names “Cocadavirus alagoinhas” and “Acarajevirus bahia” for RS phage CA1 and RS phage AB1, respectively. These findings increase our understanding of the diversity of phages infecting plant pathogens of the genus Ralstonia.